SALT LAKE CITY – NBA All-Star Weekend could be returning to Los Angeles in 2025.
“We plan on submitting a bid when advised by the NBA that the bid process is open for 2025,” Lee Zeidman, the president of Crypto.com Arena, Microsoft Theater and L.A. Live told The Sporting Tribune on Friday. “And we would love to host in 2025, making it every seven years since 2004. Our renovations will be complete and our long and successful history of hosting three NBA All-Star weekends at L.A. Live as well as other major events coupled with our strong working relationships with the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission and the City of Los Angeles, we would hope position AEG as a strong contender for the bid.”
The last time NBA All-Star Weekend was held in Los Angeles was in 2018 and the arena formerly known as Staples Center will look different when the game returns.
Crypto.com Arena completed the first phase of a three-year renovation plan that will cost more than the arena’s original price tag of $375 million. The renovations include new LED panels, a renovated sports bar and Chairman’s Club, refurbished suites, a new VIP tunnel club, a new-look City View Terrace and main concourse suites and an expanded Xbox Plaza that will permanently close off Chick Hearn Court. The renovations will be completed in 2024, just in time for the start of the 2024-2025 NBA and NHL seasons and, yes, the 2025 NBA All-Star Weekend.
While it’s not exactly an official tradition, Crypto.com Arena (formerly Staples Center) has held the NBA All-Star Game every seven years since announcing its name and first corporate sponsor back in 1997.
The first NBA All-Star Game was held at Staples Center in 2004 and the event returned to the Downtown Los Angeles arena in 2011 and 2018 and Zeidman hopes they will get it again in 2025.
The warm weather destination would be a welcome change for players, coaches and others after the past few years. NBA All-Star Weekend is taking place in Salt Lake City this week for the first time in 30 years. Next year it will be in Indianapolis for the first time since 1985. Last year it was held in Cleveland for the first time since 1997. The last NBA All-Star Game before the pandemic temporarily shut down the league in 2020 was held in Chicago for the first time since 1988. And prior to that it was held in Charlotte for the first time since 1991.
If Crypto.com Arena is able to host the 2025 NBA All-Star Game, Los Angeles might not have to wait seven years to get it back. The Clippers will be moving into the brand-new $2 billion Intuit Dome across the street from SoFi Stadium for the 2024-2025 NBA season and it would be in the running to host the event as well in the near future. A league official said the NBA would not likely award the game to an arena that has not completed construction at the time of the announcement and would want to see an arena open for a couple of seasons before awarding it the game. Staples Center, for example, hosted the game in its fifth season. Chase Center in San Francisco opened in 2019 and has not yet hosted the event. Another factor the league considers is the walking distance from the arena to a convention center, hotels and restaurants.
